


Lighting the Water

by eatenpickelsticks



Series: Naruto Works [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Hatake Kakashi, BAMF Umino Iruka, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fuuinjutsu Master Umino Iruka, Hatake Kakashi Is Trying, Uzumaki Naruto is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27766066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatenpickelsticks/pseuds/eatenpickelsticks
Summary: The man could be a tool for his village without a word. Follow an order like a Suna puppet dangling on a fucking string. Give the order to kill a defenseless civilian without losing too much sleep over the decision. It was easy to slit someone's throat, to drown yourself until you can't remember what it was like to smile because all you can see is people screaming, choking on their blood.But he was still a man.Where Kakashi just wants to be worth something.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Shiranui Genma, Hatake Kakashi & Umino Iruka, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Naruto Works [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032828
Comments: 9
Kudos: 70





	Lighting the Water

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this when I was like, fourteen, so don't judge. I just thought I should post it as a oneshot. I don't know if it's a good enough work to have multiple chapters. You can tell I wrote this so long ago, because the title isn't even a song lyric.
> 
> loser man.

Kakashi was a shinobi, fuck that actually. He was one of the best, and the blood that covered his file proved that. 

The man could be a tool for his village without a word. Follow an order like a Suna puppet dangling on a fucking string. Give the order to kill a defenseless civilian without losing too much sleep over the decision. It was easy to slit someone's throat, to drown yourself until you can't remember what it was like to smile because all you can see is people screaming, choking on their blood.

It's easy to turn into a monster when you've slaughtered people since you were six.

So yeah, Kakashi could be an obedient little slave for his Hokage sometimes. Let the man pat his head or some shit like that. 

At the current moment, Kakashi, a man who had been trained to have about five masks to cover his physical one, who usually flushed his emotion down a mental toilet at the dismissal flick of a wrist, lost his shit.

Not in the yelling and having a mental breakdown way in the middle of the Hokage's office kind of way.

No, it was the killing intent rolling off him like the waves at the beach in Wave Country and the pure fucking fury growing from the bottom of his stomach. 

"Excuse me, what the literal fuck did you just say." He could sense the ANBU in the room before he even walked in, but seeing them materialize out of the shadow made the scroll on his hip that contained his mask gain twenty pounds. He almost felt horrified that he was two seconds away from attacking them himself.

"Kakashi, contain yourself before I contain you myself." Sarutobi dismissed the ANBU with a wave of his hand. The Hatake swear he could see blood dripping from the fingers. Only to feel foolish when nothing was on them. 

"The situation is being handled Hatake. You losing your composure will only make things worse-" The Hokage was a leader, hid the blood that stained his teeth behind a kind smile. This man would do anything for his village and the people in it. Hiruzen was raised by war, you never escape that.

The silver-haired man felt something snap in him, probably the last strands of his sanity or something of the sort. But it made it easier to lose control and full out snarl at the old man sitting like a civilian woman in front of him.

"Oh my  _ apologies, _ did I hurt your fucking sensitivity or your nasty old ass pride?" The Hokage looked unimpressed at the ANBU who snickered at that, they would probably be tortured for it later. "By the way, please tell me I heard that wrong." Kakashi thought hysterically for a moment he was going to die from insubordination, but then decided to throw the thought also, into his metaphorical toilet.

The Hokage just sat up straighter and stared a hole into the shinobi's glare. "He will still have his ANBU guard Kakashi, and that includes you. Do you not have faith in your squad?" 

It was quiet for a moment and the Hatake wanted to scoff. He felt his back almost seize and he tried to unclench his hands.

"Please, they can barely handle their own mental health, how the hell can we take care of a five-year-old, mind you, living by himself who only has contact with black-op killers. I leave for a month, and the brat gets attacked and supposedly kicked out of the damn orphanage."

"Kakashi, you act as if the decision isn't already decided. I can't leave him with a clan after the last political shit-storm. Honestly, your ANBU team has taken better care of Naruto than any of his other care-givers. So I was going to tell you before you lost your composure, is that I am extending your guarding perimeters."

The silver-haired shinobi just simmered in his passive anger. It wasn't right, Minato's son didn't deserve any of this, he was just a kid after all. A kid who smiled too wide and had a literal chakra beast stuffed in his stomach, but he was still a kid nonetheless. Not to mention a part of Kakashi's pack, whether he knew it or not.

"You can allow Naruto to see your squad, with masks on of course, and only trusted individuals you choose yourself will be allowed to interact directly with Naruto. Only if you see it necessary of course."

Kakashi felt his body tense and his hand twitch because this was almost the complete opposite of what ANBU stood for. This was a power move, Hiruzen was giving him the power to bypass the law that had the villagers swear to not interfere without directly saying it.

Anyone with relation to Minato and Kushina was ordered directly from the Hokage to not be involved in Naruto's life. It broke Jiraiya to not do anything, it's why he surrounded himself with intel and women who he wouldn't remember the next day and avoided Konoha like the plague. Kakashi and his ANBU squad were the only exceptions, and that was after he had begged, sobbing on the floor, torn from the death of his only precious people.

"What are you doing with this." Kakashi couldn't help but ask, he could feel pieces being moved like a shoji board in his mind. Trying to piece together the play.

"I have no idea what you mean by that Kakashi. I am only updating your position to better take care of the host."

It clicked when the Sandaime took a drag of his cigarette. The old man had seen more war than most sane can even comprehend. Better yet, he lived through it. He was a monster, but he was still human. Namikaze Minato was his student, just as he was almost a father to Kakashi.

It made the Hatake's gut swivel in guilt and anger when he thought about what the Hokage was doing. He was also filled with a sliver of pity when he thought about being in a position where you had to choose to give a mission to protect a child, who shouldn't even be near most of the participants in the first place. Just because old men who were stuck in a war of words behind a desk.

So he forced himself to relax into his normal slouch outside of his ANBU duties. The man switched so fast that he could feel the slight nervousness in the shinobis' chakra in the shadows. His posture screaming nothing but lazy,  _ not a threat. _

"Your team has been informed, give your mission report to a desk Chunin, and report in two days. You're dismissed from your shinobi duties until then."

He didn't even pause before he was out the window.

...

Naruto was alone for most of his life. 

Then he wasn't alone.

It was a fact, just like how Henges could change anyone's appearance, especially hair color. Inu taught him that, and how to fold shirts without getting wrinkles. He didn't understand what he meant but he was glad anyway. He knew they could be lying, like all the kids in the orphanage.

But the masks never lied. They never changed, and they never left. Naruto thought they were imaginary at first, the people in the masks. They didn't appear often at first, a little bit of helping him wash his clothes, some dishes, helping him cook.

But for a boy who had nothing? Even the simple thought was everything.

Naruto didn't even notice that it was them before he was five. He considered it normal to have breakfast cooked for him when he woke up. Clothes bought, he was happy to have some orange shirts, folded on the couch in neat little piles. Little sticky notes that had helped him learn some Kanji. 

The five-year-old saw Neko first. The blonde had tripped, feet too young, and a flash of silver and the white of a mask had caught him.

"Are you okay?" His voice was calm, someone might have even called it void, but the blonde couldn't find a hint of malice. Naruto had gapped for a moment, then his smile radiated brilliance, not unlike the sun on the hot drag of a summer day. 

"That was so cool, dattebayo!!! You went all foooshhhhhh and capash, and-" The blonde was shaking with stars in his eyes. If Tenzou didn't have his mask on, you would see the pure 'deer in headlights' look on his face. He awkwardly patted the child's head before he mumbled a bye and shunshined off.

The blonde just looked more in awe.

That was the first incident.

He then caught Shakku, his mask was a one that resembled a shark and he heard Neko call him that so he just assumed, sneaking vegetables into his fridge. Naruto didn't mention it, but Shakku was his favorite. He helped him read and always ruffled his hair, he was almost always there.

The others just popped up after Shakku became a regular occurrence.

Naruto was young, but he remembers the loneliness that used to dwell in the pit of his stomach, how alone he felt, and afraid. He didn't understand it at first, but then he just accepted the treatment. Because there was no way that he didn't deserve it, whatever he had done. But now he wasn't alone.

They were hesitant at first, and Naruto thought they were like the other adults, scared of him and sneering behind the things that hid their faces. But they never yelled, never shunned him. The masks didn't talk anyway, or at least for a while. Eventually, they all talked to him, albeit a few words and maybe a snort, except for Inu. He asked Shakku about it, and he just huffed and said the other was shy.

There was one who had purple hair, and she got mad when Naruto pulled it. Another who wore his brown hair down, unlike Shakku's, and he always was teaching Naruto how to throw shuriken at his target in his livingroom. He was always telling the blonde to be careful, helped him bake cookies that were so good!

There was also Inu, who was the coolest. He did 'poofs' and showed Naruto little exercises, always guiding him. Inu seemed cold and Naruto was scared of him for a while, but Shakku just said that the silver-haired male was 'ultra shy'. The blonde had giggled when he ruffled his head after that. He made sure to smile at Inu the most.

If the Uzumaki was older, he might've seen Inu freeze, might've seen his hands shake.

It became a common occurrence for him to fall asleep at the table, Shakku forcing him to read some kanji and write the characters. He would feel arms carry him, warm so warm, and wondered if this is what having parents felt like.

...

There was only a five-manned ANBU team guarding the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki of Konoha. The members switched out when the Hokage needed them to go on a more specialized mission.

The Hokage had asked Kakashi to help him choose the members, so Kakashi chose the only people he's ever trusted.

Tenzou had too much of a rare ability to be around Naruto all the time. Anko was too good at her job outside of ANBU, she was already better than most of the personal in T&I, and she was still training. Genma was one of the best assassins in the whole village, invaluable. Kakashi himself was the commander of ANBU at that point, one of the deadliest killing machines that Konoha had ever produced before. He was mostly on missions these days, so he trusted Naruto to his squad, pack, when he couldn't be there.

They were there when they could be, the reminiscence of a promise to a man and a woman.

There was one member, of what they called the Baby Sitter's Club, which was a constant. 

Umino Iruka, a sensor-based chunnin who also specialized in water ninjutsu. He had gone into ANBU after the nine-tails attack and his parent's death. He was deadly with his traps, and the only ANBU operative that got away with pranking headquarters on a daily basis.

He was also the main care-taker of Uzumaki Naruto and was probably the only ANBU with enough sanity to be able to do it. Iruka was considered the light of the special forces. He was always bright, so bright that some of the older shinobi said it burned their eyes. Iruka was probably the only ANBU the Hokage let keep their humanity.

He was kind of everybody's therapy friend, like how Genma was the mother hen who always seemed to have half the force at his house regularly. Normal things.

That's how Kakashi got knocked out and was tied to a chair with about five rolls of duct tape.

That's what the Hokage let ANBU get away with. Getting hammered while making cookies at a guy's house who could poison you with a flick of his finger in an instant. It was the life they choose after all. Kakashi just wished he wasn't tied to a chair and hung up to dry.

"Oh my fucking, why. Aoba please get the hell out of the kitchen." Genma was getting another cookie sheet out of the oven, trying to swat at the man. Aoba just stretched his hand out, but Iruka saw it and intercepted him.

Iruka knocked Aoba on the head with the book he was reading. Something about the theory of water ninjutsu, Iruka read boring stuff like that. 

"Iruka, damnit that thing has to be like five-hundred pages. I gotta work tomorrow, you know." Aoba regained his composure, talking in a tone that made the younger male snort. 

"Oh no, not goody-tush Aoba. Besides, some of the cookies are for Naruto-kun. So don't touch them."

The Hatake bristled, even more, when they mentioned the boy and they pretended like they didn't notice. He was probably being paranoid again.

"Kakashi, you do realize that the Hokage himself is with the kid. Not to mention Tenzou and Anko." Genma said without his attention diverting from the cookies. "Stop being a worrywart. You're off duty right now. Have a damn cookie or something."

Aoba rolled his eyes. "Like you can talk about being a mother-hen."

"I have more duck tape. I can fuck you up." Genma said, pointing a spatula at Aoba, turning so you can see the front of his blue apron.

Kakashi pretended to hate being here, and like he couldn't escape in the first place.

**Author's Note:**

> So, how bad was it lmao?


End file.
